Sack of Magdeburg

The Sack of Magdeburg occurred from 20 to 24 May 1631 during the Thirty Years' War. In the single worst atrocity of the war, the Catholic German mercenary army under Count Tilly stormed, sacked, and burned the city of Magdeburg, killing all but 449 of its 25,000 inhabitants.

Siege
During the Swedish Intervention phase of the Thirty Years' War, the northern German city of Magdeburg proclaimed its loyalty to the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus, provoking the Catholic League general Count Tilly to march north with 40,000 troops and besiege the city. The Protestant stronghold fell after artillery breached the walls in two places, and the city was so thoroughly sacked that "Magdeburg Quarter" became a slang term for atrocity. Of the 25,000 residents of Magdeburg in 1631, only 449 were alive by 1632 as the result of the unpaid Catholic mercenaries' sack of the city. The city's sack helped to galvanize Protestant resistance to the Catholic forces, driving many German princes into the ranks of the Protestant Union.